Soccer: Mancini plays down training clash with Balotelli

04/01/2013

Forward will get '100 chances', no action to be taken

Rome, January 4 - Manchester City coach Roberto
Mancini on Friday played down a clash he had in training with
Mario Balotelli and said the Italy forward's future at the
English champions had not changed because of the incident.
Photos in the British media showed Mancini grabbing
Balotelli's training bib after a dangerous tackle on teammate
Scott Sinclair in Thursday's training session.
The incident fueled speculation that City have run out of
patience with the hugely talented 22-year-old, who has been
dogged by indiscipline and has been at the centre of a series of
bizarre off-field episodes since joining them in 2010, and want
to offload him.
"Mario made a tackle on his teammate that I would prefer to
see in a game and not against a teammate," Mancini told a press
conference.
"I asked him to leave the pitch - he said no, so I moved
him off. That's all that happened and it was nothing more than
that.
"There will be no action taken because it was over very
quickly and that is the end of it.
"Nothing has changed between Mario and me and my thoughts
have not changed about him. These things happen from time to
time.
"Will Mario have more chances? I will give him 100 chances
as long as I can see him trying to improve and working hard for
this football club".
Balotelli has not been a regular starter for the English
champions this season and Mancini has publicly criticised the
attitude of his compatriot, saying he risks throwing away his
immense talent.
Friction between player and club peaked last month when
Balotelli moved to appeal to a Premier League tribunal to try to
overturn a fine of 340,000 pounds, or about 400,000 euros, for
his poor disciplinary record that saw him miss 11 games because
of suspensions last season.
But the player made a U-turn and decided to drop the action
and accept the fine.
Mancini said Balotelli would not start in Saturday's FA Cup
match against Watford after missing some training sessions
because of a virus.
"He trained only four times this week," Mancini said. "(He
will) not (be) in the starting line-up, maybe on the bench.